


unravel at the seams

by SoloChaos



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Gen, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-22
Updated: 2014-12-22
Packaged: 2018-03-02 18:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2822219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoloChaos/pseuds/SoloChaos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh finds the cat huddled against the tire of his car, shaking in the snow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	unravel at the seams

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING for a lot of mentions of abuse.
> 
>  
> 
> This was kind of an attempt at a happy holidays fic?

Josh finds the cat huddled against the tire of his car, shaking in the snow.

He's surprised when the cat doesn't run away when he approaches it. Instead, it practically falls into his hands. It purrs weakly as Josh picks it up and gently pets its head.

Josh gasps when he notices a long gash on the cat's neck. The cat whimpers but surprisingly doesn't hiss when Josh angles it to get a better look.

"What happened to you?" Josh whispers as the cat burrows into his arms further. He carefully cradles the cat in one arm as he heads back inside to find something warm for the cat and the address of the closest vet.

He finds a small cardboard box and puts a blanket in it before gently putting the cat down in it. He gently pets the top of the cat's head as he googles the closest vet.

"It's just ten minutes from here," Josh tells the cat, who mewls back.

The veterinarian is a nice guy, gentle, but the cat shakes wildly as he carefully examines it. It doesn't resist, but it looks so scared that Josh breathes a sigh of relief when the vet finally puts it back in the box.

"He'll need stitches on his neck," the veterinarian tells Josh. "His front paw and a couple of his ribs are broken as well. I'm surprised he didn't at least hiss when you picked him up."

"Me too," Josh says, carefully stroking the top of the cat's head. "So... so what do you think happened to him?"

The vet sighs. "I could blame a broken paw and a couple cracked ribs on a car accident, maybe, or some other kind of mishap, but this cut on his neck was definitely done on purpose."

Josh winces, and the cat mewls.

"So you'll be paying for this?" the vet asks.

Josh nods, thanking the heavens that he got a holiday bonus not too long ago. The cat rubs his head against Josh's hand, almost as a thank you.

 

"So, what should I call you?" Josh asks as he carefully carries the box with the cat inside.

The cat mews.

"Oh, you have opinions, don't you?" Josh teases as he locks the door behind him. He kicks off his snow-caked sneakers before carrying the box to the living room.

"Hmm," he says as he sets the box down on the coffee table before sitting down on the sofa. "You look a little too... I don't know, human, to have a name like Boots or Mittens or whatever."

The cat meows in agreement.

"Neil Pawtrick Harris," Josh says.

The cat blinks.

"Cat Damon," Josh says, just getting warmed up. "George Bernard Paw. Paw Revere. Catnip Everdeen. Holden Clawfield. Catrick Stump. Ooh, Winston Furchill. Ray Clawles. JRR Tolkitten. Leopardo DiCatrio. And you just _can't_  get an Oscar."

The cat stares at him.

"Oh, come on," Josh says. "Meowly Cyrus."

The cat buries its head in its blankets.

"Screw you, that was funny," Josh mumbles.

 

Josh has had the cat for over a week when Debby stops by.

"It's weird that you haven't named him," Debby says, looking at the cat.

Josh shrugs. "Nothing seems to fit him." He takes a bite out of the taco Debby brought him. The cat, who's situated on Josh's lap, mews, staring up at Josh with big, amber eyes. Sighing, Josh gives him a bite of the taco meat that was about to fall out of the taco.

"So," Debby says after a few moments, "what do you think happened to him?"

Josh sighs. "I'm guessing that either some kids got to him, maybe." He gently scratches under the cat's chin. "Or that he was abused by his last owner."

The cat whimpers at that, pushing himself into Josh's chest. Josh drops his taco, quickly wiping his fingers on a napkin before wrapping his hands around the cat protectively. The cat makes a little crying noise, and both Josh and Debby immediately begin to murmur soothing words.

"It's okay, buddy," Josh says softly, rubbing his thumb against one of the cat's good paws. "No one's going to hurt you." The cat quiets at that, but keeps his body pressed against Josh's.

"It's almost like he can understand us," Debby says quietly as Josh soothes the cat.

"I know," Josh says with a nod. "It's kind of weird."

"Yeah," Debby agrees.

 

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly," Josh sings halfheartedly as he locks the door behind him. "Fa la la la la, la la la la."

"Mrow, meow, mrow, mrow, mrow, meow," the cat says, padding up to him on three paws.

"Hey, I don't know if you're supposed to be walking yet," Josh says, scooping him up before he registers that the cat was in tune. "Wait."

The cat looks at him expectantly.

"Fa la la la la..." Josh tries.

"Meow, mrow, mrow," the cat finishes.

"What the heck," Josh says, staring at the cat in amazement. "Where did you learn to do that?"

The cat lets out a loud "mrow".

"Ah," Josh says, shaking it off. "Come on, let's get you some food."

The cat mewls disagreeably. For some reason, the cat doesn't like the cat food Josh has bought. He's tried giving him all kinds, but the cat has turned his nose up to all of them. Josh doesn't know why this is. Most cats he's known have never turned away their food.

Then again, this cat isn't like the most.

"You can have people food again," Josh mumbles, and excitedly, the cat bats Josh's nose.

 

The cat has settled fairly comfortably into Josh's life. His bones have healed, and he sleeps curled up on the pillow by Josh's head. They've compromised cat food in the morning, but people food for dinner. It's still odd that Josh hasn't yet found a name for him, but he guesses it'll come to him eventually.

He's on the phone with the company he ordered his newest pair of shoes from. He's already pissed off about being on hold for nearly two hours, and he's ready to punch the wall when the uninterested voice who put him on hold says, "Hello?"

"Yes, I called about my order," Josh says, barely retaining the "Remember that, asshole?"

"Oh, yeah," the voice says. "No returns."

"You got my order wrong."

"No returns."

"I never got it in the first place. I got something else." Josh is beginning to become very, very irritated.

"No returns."

"Come on, I got the wrong order. I lost that money."

"Then sell whatever you got on eBay or whatever."

"I won't get all my–"

Dial tone.

"For god's sake!" Josh bellows, slamming the phone down. "What the hell?!" He stands up and kicks the chair he was sitting on. "Ugh! I'm gonna–"

He quiets when he sees something dart under the sofa. The cat? He strains his ears and realizes that the cat is _crying._

"Oh, my goodness," Josh says, dashing to the sofa and sinking to his knees. "I'm so sorry," he says, peering under the sofa.

The cat is pressed as far away from Josh as possible. He's mewling, sounding distressed.

"Love, listen to me," Josh says softly. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I was just mad at that guy on the phone. Not at you. I'm not mad at you, I promise. I won't hurt you."

The cat stays curled under the sofa, shaking.

"Listen to me," Josh says quietly. "I don't know what the person who made you so afraid said to you. I don't know if they told you that they wouldn't hurt you. I don't know if they told you that they were sorry when they did. But I want you to know, love, that I will _never hurt you._ And maybe somebody said that to you before and lied. I'm so, so sorry if that happened to you. But not everyone is like that, I swear to god. And I'm not. It... it makes me physically sick to imagine _anyone_  being hurt like that."

The cat blinks his amber eyes at Josh.

Josh swallows. "Look," he says. "If you want to leave here, I won't stop you. I'll leave one of the windows in the kitchen open. Now, I'm going to go open the window, and then I'm going to my room. I'll let you think about what you want to do. Okay?"

There's a small mewl, and Josh nods before heading to the kitchen.

 

Josh is about to turn off the lights to go to sleep when he hears a quiet _meow._

"Hey," he says, looking down to the small cat standing by his doorway. "Have you decided what you want to do?"

The cat responds by jumping onto Josh's bed and curling up on his chest.

Josh can't help the wide grin that spreads across his face at that.

 

Josh wakes up to a rather uncomfortable weight on his body. Sleepily, he fumbles for the lamp switch. The lamp turns on, illuminating the figure of a man sprawled across his body.

"Oh my god," Josh says, staring at the man on his chest with wide eyes.

The man makes a mewling noise, looking up at Josh. His eyes are amber.

"Oh my god," Josh repeats.

The man furrows his eyebrows, eyes fading into a more human brown. "What are–" He stops, eyes going wide. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean–"

"Who the fuck are you," Josh says, and the man flinches at the swear.

"I– I'm Tyler," the man whispers. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen, I–"

"Are you my cat." And wow, Josh never thought he'd say that.

Tyler looks down. "Y-yeah," he mumbles.

"How."

"I'm a shapeshifter," Tyler whispers.

Josh has no idea as to what's happening. "Get off of me," Josh orders, and Tyler scrambles to obey.

Tyler's very naked, something that Josh didn't notice before. There's a long scar on his neck, along with various scars along his body. Josh has to force himself to look away.

Okay, so this isn't _that_ much of a surprise, is it? He's had conversations with this cat. But... but shapeshifter? 

"I'm so sorry, I didn't want you to find out this way, I was just so–" Tyler cuts himself off when Josh stands up. "Please," he whispers, dropping to his knees.

"Please?" Josh echoes, taken aback. "Please what?"

"Please don't hurt me too bad," Tyler mumbles.

Josh blinks, confused, before remembering. He assumed that the cat had been abused, but this man is not always a cat.

"Oh, no no no," Josh quickly assures him, quickly sitting down in front of Tyler. "No, I'm not going to hurt you. Remember what I said?"

"Yes, but..." Tyler mumbles, "but you looked so angry, I just thought that maybe..." He trails off, starting to cry.

"Oh, love," Josh whispers, holding his arms out cautiously. Tyler practically falls into them, sobbing.

"Shh, it's okay, you're okay," Josh murmurs, carding his fingers through Tyler's hair as though he was still a cat. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

 

"I was dating this, um, guy." Tyler's eyes quickly dart up to Josh's, carefully judging his reaction. Josh doesn't blink. "And after I moved in with him, he just kinda... cut me off. From everyone. Wouldn't even let me call my mom. And then he started, uh, y'know. Hitting me."

He looks so uncomfortable, practically swimming in Josh's clothes. He's taller than Josh, but he's very skinny. He's clutching the mug of tea Josh gave him like his life depends on it.

"Hey," Josh says quietly, carefully. "You don't have to tell me everything. Not if you aren't comfortable with it."

Tyler bites his lip. "But– but you took care of me. You're so nice to me. Don't you deserve to know?"

"I don't deserve to know anything that you're not comfortable with sharing," Josh tells him. "Of course I want to know why you ended up with me, but not if you aren't comfortable with telling me."

Tyler nods slowly. "Thank you for the tea," he says quietly, setting it down on the table. "Thank you for... everything. I'll, uh, I'll show myself out."

"Wait, what?" Josh says, watching as Tyler stands up. "Where are you going?"

"You don't want me around here as a human, right?" Tyler says. "And I'm guessing you don't want to keep me even if I stay a cat. So I'm just gonna..." He gestures to the door.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Josh asks, and Tyler pauses.

"No," he mumbles. "But I'll be okay."

"You can, uh, stay," Josh says.

Tyler blinks. "I can?"

Josh shrugs. "I don't see why not. You don't have anywhere to go, and I get, uh," he scratches the back of his neck, "kind of lonely here. It was nice having, y'know, a cat."

Tyler smiles faintly. "You want me as, um, a cat? Or..."

"As a person," Josh clarifies.

"O-okay," Tyler says hesitantly.

Josh smiles at Tyler, projecting as much as friendliness into it as possible. "Come on, you can take my bed," he says.

"No, no, no," Tyler says, shaking his head. "It's your bed."

"My bed. I decide what to do with it," Josh says. "And I've decided that you should sleep in it."

Tyler bites his lip, half-smiling at Josh. "I– I don't know..."

"It's okay," Josh says vehemently. "It's okay. It's late. Go to bed. I'll be on the couch if you need me, okay?"

"Okay," Tyler says. After a moment of hesitation, Tyler steps forward and wraps his arms around Josh's shoulders. "Thank you."

"No problem, Tyler," Josh says, hugging back.

 

 

 

Making breakfast for a man who is sometimes a cat (and a bird and a butterfly and a dog from what Josh has seen so far) is not how Josh expected to spend his Christmas morning. 

But he's not complaining. 

"I'm sorry I didn't get you anything," Tyler apologizes as he watches Josh put the final pancake onto the pan. 

"That's all right. You had an excuse: you were a cat," Josh says agreeably. 

Tyler laughs a little. "Yeah, I guess," he says.

"It's fine, dude," Josh assures him. "I like having you here. You're a good roommate."

Tyler flushes. (Josh suspects Tyler isn't used to being complimented, because "you're a good roommate" isn't really at the top of his compliment list.) "Thank you," he murmurs. 

"Merry Christmas, Ty," Josh says, handing him a plate of pancakes. 

"Merry Christmas, Josh," Tyler says, looking down at his plate. "This is shaped like a cat."

"For you, Meowly," Josh says cheerfully, and is filled with glee from head to toe when he hears Tyler laugh. 

**Author's Note:**

> Also, there will be a SEQUEL. This will probably be a SERIES. I am an IDIOT.


End file.
